Vimy Ridge Tunnels

[Mark Hone]

Has anyone else had difficulty booking a tunnel tour at Vimy Ridge? I was told by our school travel company this morning that they have been unable to book a tour for us on the afternoon of Friday 24th October. I am extremely annoyed about this. The battlefield tour, as always, was arranged a year in advance and the Vimy Ridge element was the only itinerary-related booking I left in the travel company's hands. I normally do it all myself to ensure that there no cock-ups like this! They claim that they have been trying to book the tour since December and often have problems doing so, but usually supposedly get last-minute cancellations. They have now been told that the tunnel tours are fully-booked. Had I known about this earlier I would have tried to slot in Carriere Wellington instead.

[Simon Jones]

The company that I guide for has had the same problem as your travel company and this summer I took a group to Wellington caves instead. I would prefer the option of a tunnels only tour at Vimy rather than the extended tour introduced a few years ago. The student guides are bright and hard-working but have only a superficial knowledge of the subject and the extended tour takes up much time on general background (understandably Canadian orientated) which the group will already have received before arriving at Vimy.

[Mark Hone]

Thanks Simon. I must admit that I haven't been for several years and I don't like the sound of the extended tour. We only did the tunnels last time. We shall just visit the monument and 'preserved' trenches (I presume access to these are still free?). One of our BGS old boys, Lieutenant Tom Douglas, 10th Canadian Infantry was killed during the capture of the ridge in April 1917 and is commemorated on the Memorial. The rest of the tour is about 1918.

[truthergw]

Has anyone else had difficulty booking a tunnel tour at Vimy Ridge? I was told by our school travel company this morning that they have been unable to book a tour for us on the afternoon of Friday 24th October. I am extremely annoyed about this. The battlefield tour, as always, was arranged a year in advance and the Vimy Ridge element was the only itinerary-related booking I left in the travel company's hands. I normally do it all myself to ensure that there no cock-ups like this! They claim that they have been trying to book the tour since December and often have problems doing so, but usually supposedly get last-minute cancellations. They have now been told that the tunnel tours are fully-booked. Had I known about this earlier I would have tried to slot in Carriere Wellington instead.

The Padre and I turned up one day a few weeks ago and joined a tour of the tunnels after adding ourselves to the list at reception. The parties are quite small and I can see where a bus party might be a problem.

[iain mchenry]

Mark,

Earlier in the year, once the tunnels were open again I phoned with at least 2 months advance to book in a private party of 15 people, only to be told that they did not take bookings and to turn up on the day. We did just this, getting there early, first come first served etc, only to be told that there was no space for us untill late afternoon due to prior bookings!!!!!!!!!! It is somewhere I have lost a lot of faith with with larger groups as the rules seem to change every time I phone. I would agree with Simon as the Wellington system seems far better organised. If time is on your side and you could split your school party up, it may be worth turning up and seeing if they could put them underground on two tours running one after the other. So, whilst one group is under, the other could be up at the memorial or elsewhere in the vicinity.

Good luck and best regards.

Iain

[Tom Morgan]

The company I freelance for has also been having difficulty in booking tunnel tours. This has been the state-of-play for some time, I'm afraid, Mark.

Tom

[MACRAE]

I have never had a problem when I take friends there perhaps my name MACRAE helps

Dan

[ChrisC]

I went about 6 weeks ago with no problems. I booked via the website and received a confirmation, which I presented at the desk. The tour was 90% tunnel with a little background talk , nothing too technical, at the beginning. Just after us a school party was going down and they were split into two sections; so your suggestion Iain is a good 'un.

Chris C

[bruce]

The tour company for whom I guide has also had difficulty getting bookings for school parties down the tunnels.

The last time, two weeks ago,we settled for the monument and the trenches instead......and the pupils seemed to enjoy that anyway. Both are still free access.

Bruce

[Guest KevinEndon]

Having done Vimy and now the Wellington tunnels at Arras, I found the latter better. A 45 minute tour with excellent English speaking guides made the tour highly informative and one to remember. Maybe a change from Vimy to Arras may well work out to be the better option.

Kevin